


you can see it with the lights out

by itsrosencrantz



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28328550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsrosencrantz/pseuds/itsrosencrantz
Summary: Lorenz is lonely, and his roommate invites him to a New Year's party.
Relationships: Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	you can see it with the lights out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evenmyneck (stopmopingstarthoping)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stopmopingstarthoping/gifts).



> A short and sweet little gift fic for a dear friend of mine! Thank you for writing these two with me and Merry Christmas, Hope!

Lorenz has been to many parties in his life, but nothing in his memory compares to this: loud music, a keg on the front lawn, not a single bit of finger food in sight that didn't come from a vacuum-sealed bag. College has been an adjustment in so many ways, and he can't say all of them are good; living with another person who isn't his family for the first time, cafeteria lunches, the mortifying ordeal of becoming known by new people and them somehow finding him lacking despite being socially so far beneath him in so many ways - 

The first three months, he'd had a text message head-drafted to his mother just waiting for the final straw to break his back. Whether it was his obnoxious roommate grinding coffee beans at the first crack of dawn or the pitying looks he'd sometimes get when Khalid's friends stopped by to drag him off for some sort of shenanigans, there always seemed to be some new discomfort making its home beneath his skin and making him second guess every choice that had led him to a college across the country to begin with. Classes, of course, he excelled at, and he comforted himself with the idea that one went to university for the education to _begin_ with, but by the time the holidays began to approach, he'd begun to notice a certain lack in his life.

It had been an odd sort of awakening. As an only child, he'd never had constant access to companionship his own age, and he'd amused himself with books and games all on his own quite happily for the most part. There is a difference, though, in being surrounded by one's peers (of age, at least) with no friends and being the young master of the estate, doted on enough not to really care much about the lack of playmates. He'd realized, when Khalid texted him a few days before New Year's with an invitation to a party - one he likely didn't expect Lorenz to attend - that he is incredibly lonely. 

So, he had accepted, and now he is here, wrapped in several more layers than everyone else attending, though at least not as many as when he first arrived. The cheap liquor that had been passed into his hands by a surprised and merry Khalid the moment he walked in the door has done a tremendous amount to warm him up, and the crush of bodies throwing off heat inside the frat house drove him out to the balcony sooner than he'd like to admit. His breath makes a cloud in front of his mouth as he blows on his hands, mentally chiding himself for taking his gloves off somewhere between arrival and his escape from the crowd, and he watches people stumble drunkenly across the snow-covered lawn while making merry.

He's never been to a party quite like this, but it's also not the worst party he's been to. (That distinction belongs to the very first college bash Khalid had convinced him - well, dared him really - to attend, where someone had spilled cheap beer on his cashmere sweater and he'd ended up in a borrowed t-shirt for the rest of the night.) He'd venture to say he's even enjoying himself, helped along, of course, by the mysteriously bottomless cup he's been carting around since arrival, though he's beginning to hit the point of intoxication where he feels more sleepy than anything else.

The door opens and closes behind him, but Lorenz doesn't turn to see who it is. Instead, he reaches for his cup and knocks the rest of it back, hoping he'll forget about the chill in his fingers if his buzz rebuilds fast enough.

"What're you doing out here by yourself? You know the point of a party is to mingle, right?"

Lorenz's head swings around, his brow already pinched, but it's difficult to be too annoyed with his too-cheerful roommate tonight. Firstly, because he wouldn't be here at all if not for the invitation Khalid had so graciously extended to him, and secondly, he's rarely seen him so loose and happy. 

To be fair, usually they're griping at one another, and while Khalid never looks particularly _unhappy_ , it's obvious to tell when his smiles are fabricated. There's a sharpness to them that isn't present tonight; his expression is blunted and soft, his movements loose as he ambles over to the railing and dangles his arms over it, fingers outstretched.

His ridiculous braid is tucked into the collar of his shirt, and Lorenz wants to flick it out and over his shoulder.

"There's no way to carry on a decent conversation in there right now, as you are perfectly aware." He rolls his eyes. "The music is too loud to hear one's self think, much less anyone else speak."

Khalid sways in close, knocking their shoulders together. "Yeah, but you can still play beer pong or something. I know it's not one of your fancy soirées, but you might just enjoy yourself if you give it a shot."

" _Beer pong_?"

"Okay, maybe not beer pong. But my point stands."

"I'm having a perfectly adequate time-"

"-I didn't invite you to have a _perfectly adequate time!_ " Khalid throws his hands in the air, voice raised dramatically, and teeters on the spot. "It's New Year's, Lorenz. Let your hair down."

A little alarmed, Lorenz reaches out to steady him, hand between his shoulders. "Perhaps you should keep your hair up a little. I know you said your point stands, but can you?"

Khalid's laugh is loud and bright, and it makes something warm curl up in Lorenz's chest, summarily ignored. Whatever he was going to say is drowned out by a cheer rising behind them, and someone shouting about the countdown beginning shortly. Lorenz sighs, drawing his hand back and then tucking his arms tightly around himself, as he turns his gaze back out over the lawn. Snow has begun to fall again in thick, fat flakes, drifting slowly in the absence of a breeze, and it's beautiful - but cold. He'll have to go back inside sooner rather than later, but he'd prefer to do that... after the ball drops. 

The only thing worse than kissing a stranger to ring in the new year is, of course, not having anyone to kiss at all.

"Come on, we're going to miss it." 

Without bothering to look over, Lorenz shakes his head. "No, you go ahead. I'll stay out here, I think."

" _Lorenz_." Khalid draws his name out, heavy emphasis on the o.

Lorenz mimics him on the i. " _Khalid_."

Khalid grips him by the shoulders and turns him, and somehow even though there's barely any force behind the turn, Lorenz can't find it in himself to resist. He does look deeply, disapprovingly unimpressed, nose wrinkling as he looks down it at his roommate-cum-friend and is shaken lightly.

From the other side of the door, many voices begin to chant. _Ten! Nine!_

"It's a party! What, are you worried no one's going to kiss you?"

_Eight! Seven!_

Lorenz sputters. "No." His hands come up, swatting at Khalid's. _Six!_ "I'd be more concerned if someone in there _did_ kiss me." _Five_!

Khalid catches one of his hands and tangles their fingers together, a stubborn light coming into his eyes. "Why? Nobody good enough for you?"

_Three! Two!_

Lorenz opens his mouth, but _one!_ bursts out of the room and fireworks whizz into the sky, lighting it in incandescent colors. They reflect in Khalid's eyes, bright streaks of light while they stare one another down and the year churns fresh around them, seconds ticking and stretching into an eternity while the cacophony of the party blurs into a subtle thrum in the background. Snow collects on the crown of his head, stark against the dark waves of his hair, and Lorenz is so distracted by the peculiar look on his face that he doesn't even notice Khalid is reaching for him until cold fingers circle the back of his neck. 

He shivers, not entirely from the cold. "Don't put words in my mouth."

Khalid's thumb presses just behind his ear and he draws him in, but somehow Lorenz is still surprised when their noses bump and their lips meet. The sound of the party has completely faded away, replaced by an odd rushing in his ears and the singular focus of his heart thudding against his ribs, off-beat and painful but thrilling, somehow, all at once.

Shared breath mists between them, and for several drawn-out seconds, silence reigns supreme. Khalid's hand slips free, and Lorenz can see the shutter fall back over his eyes. 

Without thinking, he blurts, "Your lips are chapped," and it's such an absurd thing to say that mortification seizes him. He pulls back, the flush on his face darkening horribly, but Khalid only laughs.

"Yeah, so are yours," he shoots back, smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. "Happy New Year anyway."

"What? They are not-"

*

Nearly a decade later, Claude drops onto the sofa with an exaggerated bounce, immediately twisting so that he can throw his feet over its arm and rest his head in Lorenz's lap. For all that things have changed - years spent apart, finding one another again, old names exchanged for new - the way that Claude looks up at him, mischief in the turn of his lips and affection softening his dark eyes - all the things that are important have stayed the same.

Lorenz rests a hand over his chest, fingers slipping between buttons, and scolds gently, "I was about to start the film without you."

Claude's chest jumps with his soft laughter. "You can't. Home Alone is basically about me, and I cooked the pizza."

"Yes, I know, _a lovely cheese pizza_ -"

"- _just for me_! Hey, stop!"

Lorenz muffles Claude's laughter with his hand, chuckling as he flails his arms, and then squawking when he feels the slick, wet slide of a tongue against his palm "Ugh, Claude!"

"Lorenz," he croons back, catching his hand in midair in dragging it back to his face. He drops a kiss to the inside of his wrist, expression warm, as the opening credits begin to roll. "Come on. Let's eat junk and watch rubbish, as is tradition."

With a long-suffering sigh, Lorenz drops his hand to Claude's hair. He keeps his eyes on the television, but there's a smile curling the corners of his mouth as he combs his curls back, murmuring, "Watch the film. I can't believe they forget their own son on a trip to Paris..."

"In their defense, it was a pretty hectic morning-"

"You always make this argument, and it always appalls me regardless-"

Their back-and-forth is a comfortable, familiar blanket over the evening, bickering turned fond and softened by time. The important things have stayed the same, but of the things that have changed, most have done so for the better. 

They fall asleep on the couch, Claude's head pillowed on Lorenz's thigh and Lorenz's hand in his hair. In the morning, Claude will tease him for snoring and Lorenz will mock him mercilessly for the pain in his lower back, and it will be perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on twitter at itsrosencrantz. i'm gay and like friends.


End file.
